


Lullaby

by blackcoffeeandteardrops



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: Baby Fic, F/M, Post-Finale, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 19:18:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2823137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackcoffeeandteardrops/pseuds/blackcoffeeandteardrops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before this moment, enraptured isn't a word she'd ever think of when it came to Will, and yet as she sees a tiny hand curled around his thumb, she knows that's exactly what he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from the Dixie Chicks song of the same name, because, well...reasons. 
> 
> I am missing this show like crazy, and so as a sort of catharsis, I have turned to writing more for the characters I love so much. I only hope my story adds something to the dozens of post-finale fics that have been posted already.
> 
> As always, any mistakes are my own. I tried fixing what I could. Thanks for reading!

As with everything it seems, Mac’s pregnancy isn’t easy. She knew it wouldn’t be before the doctor even went over the risks with her, but as soon as their baby became a reality, there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to make sure it remained safe.

There are the months of morning sickness—a term which grows increasingly frustrating as time goes on, because there is no telling exactly when the sickness will arrive. She’s late to work at least half a dozen times, a fact which she is certain displeases the new boss, but it’s the moments that occur later in the day that worry her. The moments when she begs and pleads that she just be able to attend the board meeting at three pm without having to rush out and find the bathroom. There is also the time when she breaks the usual protocol of waiting around the office for Will after the show and he runs into the apartment completely frantic, only to see her in bed, a nest of blankets tucked around her with a bucket in case it happens again at her side.

"I don’t know how anyone does this, Will," she cries as he brushes the hair back from her face. "How am I supposed to do my job if I can’t function properly?"

"Oh, honey…" he knows there’s nothing he can do to take the feeling of helplessness away, but it doesn’t mean he’s not willing to try. "Just tell me what I can do."

"Could you get me some water? It seems to be the only thing I can keep down."

"I’d buy an entire river of it if I could," Will says, intending for it to be a joke, but his words fall flat. He smiles despite himself and goes to the kitchen to get the water. When he returns she’s fallen asleep, and he debates whether or not to wake her up. He shakes his head, planting a kiss against her hair and setting the glass on the nightstand. It only takes him a few minutes to fall asleep with her, his hand resting against her growing abdomen.

 

* * *

Mac wakes him up in the middle of the night, shaking his shoulder as she tries not to panic. “Will, wake up,” she says, giving his shoulder another shove. “Billy, _please_. This is important.”

Will rolls over, intending to tell her that if it’s about work, it can wait an extra hour, but stops upon seeing the look on her face. His eyes drift down to where both of her hands cradle her ever growing middle. “What’s wrong?”

"I’m bleeding. I’m not sure what happened, but—"

No amount of caffeine could wake him up quite as effectively as this does. He fumbles through the dark, pulling on the pants he discarded the night before, along with the closest shirt he can find. He tosses her a jacket while stuffing his feet into shoes, all the while aware he hasn't actually said anything, and shouldn't there be something he can say that would make her feel better? He punches buttons into his phone, sighing while he waits for someone on the other end to pick up. "I'm alerting the hospital now. But Mac, can you walk? I don't want to make you—"

"I'll be fine, Will. I thought it was just spotting at first. My doctor warned me that it would happen, but this...what if it's more that that?" Mac asks, biting her lips as tears cloud her vision.

Will quickly finishes up on the phone, making a mental note to thank Tess or whoever the hell it was that had provided him with access information to the closest hospitals (both from the office and their apartment, and it wasn't like he'd sat up memorizing every detail or anything). "Honey, it's going to be fine," he insists, helping her slip the jacket over her shoulders. "You're both going to be fine."

The entire way to the hospital, he prays it's not a lie.

The doctor that treats her isn't the one Mac usually sees, a fact Will finds irritating, but she is kind and informative just the same. She spouts out facts and statistics, most of which pertain to Mac's age and working in a high stress situation, because apparently both of these things coupled together can make for a complicated pregnancy. 

"Placental abruption," Mac says the words slowly, rolling them over in her head, and she clings to Will's hand even tighter. "You're saying you believe that's what's happened?"

"I said I believe it's a possibility. That being said, considering the amount of blood and the fact your pain level isn't too high, it could be a minor abrupt—"

" _Minor_? Doc, all due respect, but she was bleeding. There is a puddle in the middle of our bed. That's not minor."

"Will, let her finish talking." Mac gives his hand a squeeze, trying desperately to assuage his fears. 

The doctor smiles, apologetic, and nods her head. "I know bleeding at this stage is cause for concern, but as I said, the tests we've perform indicate that everything should be fine. I'd like to keep her overnight however, just to be safe. And I'd like to have an ultrasound to verify how the baby is doing."

They agree, and a short time later they find themselves staring at an image of their child on the screen. As wonderful as it is to see such a tiny being and to not just see but also hear the heart beating, Mac catches herself looking over at Will a few times, and the look of awe on his face makes her love him even more.

The doctor spews out more medical jargon and they both ask questions. Will types notes into his phone, and Mac can practically hear the speech about being more careful he'll make once they get released. But through it all, one resounding thought grows clear:  _they are going to be okay._

"So everything is fine?" Mac asks, eyes glued to the screen. On it, the baby is making a motion that looks something like sucking its thumb.

"I'd like to see you get more rest, but yes. The baby seems to be fine. In fact..."

Mac watches as the doctor moves the wand slightly to the left. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just that, while I don't see anything indicated in your records as to whether or not you'd like to know the sex of the baby, it might interest you to know that I could now tell you. If you wanted."

They've talked about keeping it a secret, about painting the nursery a soft green or creamy yellow and picking out names that could work either way, but in that moment they let it go. "Yes."

The doctor points at something on the screen, circling it with the mouse. "You might not be able to tell, but with my trained eye I can. Mr. and Mrs. McAvoy, what you're looking at here is a girl."

Will laughs, and Mac doesn't think she's ever seen him so happy. "Sloan's going to be thrilled."

"She's the godmother of our child, Will. She's thrilled either way."

"True. But she also just won a bet the office had going about whether we'd have a boy or girl."

* * *

 

As the weeks and months go on, Mac makes an effort to decrease her stress levels, if not for herself then for what she now knows to be the little girl growing inside of her. The moments when she feels her kick and shift, pressing into organs or pushing against the skin of her stomach still take her by surprise. Most of the time it's joyful, but another side effect to growing a tiny human is the fact that slowly but surely, all of her clothes start to no longer fit.

"Mac, we're going to be late," Will says, looking at his reflection in the hallway mirror as he fixes his tie. He hears her reply, but he can't quite make out the words, so he heads back to their room. The site of her sitting half dressed in the middle of their bed, clothes strewn all around her, hand pressed to her lips, makes him worry. "What happened?"

"I told you, you can go on ahead of me. I have to call around and see if anyone has something that would fit someone the size of a house. I bought this two weeks ago, Will. Two weeks..." Mac holds up a red dress, a tag still dangling from one sleeve. "It's a maternity dress, so it's not that attractive, but we're going to a work party, so it doesn't really matter. I thought it would work just fine, but it might as well be a tent, and it still doesn't fit properly."

Will draws a deep breath, and he knows this is one of those areas where he has to tread carefully, because he has heard stories about men who say maybe not the right thing when their wives are concerned about their size. Simply put, he doesn't think just telling her she's pretty is going to work this time. "We won't go."

"What?" Mac asks, looking up at him in confusion. She winces as the baby kicks at one of her ribs.

Will shugs, slipping out of his jacket and draping it over a chair. "If you're not comfortable and you don't want to go, then we're not going."

"It's the ACN Christmas party, and I'm the news director while you're the anchor of our flagship show. At least one of us should be going."

"Honey, I don't care what our jobs are right now, I care that you're okay. Now, we can order takeout. Watch movies. Whatever you want to do."

Mac nods, as if it were that simple. "I want to go to this party, but your daughter is making it utterly impossible for anything I have to wear to fit for longer than thirty seconds."

He wants to say something about how she's being a little dramatic, but stops upon the words hitting him like they do every time. "So when she's being stubborn, she's mine?"

"Which is ninety nine percent of the time, dear," she replies, massaging a spot on her back. "Such as right now. She's pressing out on my bladder. Could you--"

Will helps clear away the clothing that littered the bed before helping her to stand. While she's in the bathroom, he fishes his phone from his pocket and places a call. She's been talking about the party for days, and while the doctor strongly suggested taking it easy in the last two months of pregnancy, he also knows staying home and worrying about her size won't make matters better.

A short while later they find themselves at the ACN Christmas party. There is dinner and dancing, although for that portion Will does take a stand, all but insisting she become an observer. Mac knows it can't be a coincidence that everyone from Don and Sloan, to even Maggie who's in town for the holidays keep coming up with excuses to stop by her table. The fact it's the closest to the door and also the food might have something to do with it, but each of them asks if she's okay or needs anything at least twice, and she's almost certain Will put them up to it.

He makes an appearance himself a little while later, a glass of wine for himself in one hand and a ginger ale for her in the other. "One more, and then I say it's time to go. We can leave the celebrating to them."

"There's just one thing I want to know," Mac says after she's taken a sip. "How did you manage to suddenly have access to this dress? You have connections, Will, but finding something literally less than an hour before the party started is a hard task even for you."

Will shrugs it off like it's nothing. "I know somebody."

Mac laughs, and she realizes she's not as sad and overwhelmed as she was before, but the growing weariness is enough to make her realize she's had enough. "I want to make my rounds, but then can we go?"

"Everything okay?" Will asks, his face masked with concern.

"If you were anyone else asking that question, you wouldn't be," Mac replies. He sits in the chair next to hers, pulling it closer, and she leans her head against his shoulder. "It's Christmas, and seeing everyone has been great, but I'm tired. Take me home, Billy."

Will smiles, planting a kiss against the top of her head. There are moments when he thinks he couldn't fall in love with her even more, but then he does. "Okay."

* * *

 

Elliot has been on stand by for over a week, has been finding excuses to be around News Night so he at least has some semblance of just what he'd be talking about on air when the moment came. And yet, because of course it would happen that way, when the moment comes, it is Will who is on the air. Jim is telling him about airstrikes one minute and how his wife's water has broken the next. While he tries explaining that there is no cause for concern, that she is already en route to the hospital but just wanted him to know because Will would've killed him if he didn't, Elliot is still in the anchor's chair when they came back from commercial break. He could not look more pleased when he explains the reason for the abrupt change, and as he asks their viewers to send their thoughts and prayers for the expectant parents, he sends up some of his own.

Ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes. A set of eyes so blue Mac knows she'll never get tired of looking at them. Hair so soft and brown it almost seems impossible. A nose so small Mac has no idea how she can breathe, and yet she knows she can, because all she's been able to do for the last hour is just sit and watch her little chest move in and out. "She's early. She's early, but she's perfect."

Will traces the smallest face he's ever seen with his finger, and he swears there must be something in the air because he can feel himself getting choked up. "Do you think it's possible we could keep her this little? Put a moratorium on any growing she has in mind?"

Mac laughs, but winces a little afterward, because despite a relatively routine delivery, she's still sore. "I'm not sure that would work. But as director of morale, I'm certain that won't stop you."

"I don't think so," Will replies. He shifts his gaze from the tiny human in her arms to his wife's face, and though he knows she's trying, he knows she's tired. "Why don't you let me get a turn? I can hold her for a little while so you can get some rest. We can't hold off everyone from coming to visit forever." He'd asked everyone the week before to not come see them until Mac expressly said she was ready, and though he suspected she'd put up a front, he knew she'd be worn out if she didn't at least try to get a little sleep. 

"Fine, but don't go far," Mac replies, missing the warmth of her sleeping daughter the second Will shifts her into his own. 

"We'll just be over here," Will replies, walking slowly over the a rocking chair in the corner. 

Mac watches him rock her for a few moments, rocking her back and forth, but before too long her eyelids grow heavy and drift close. She doesn't know how long she sleeps--an hour, maybe more--but when she wakes up, she looks over to see them in relatively the same position, only at some point Will has added an extra blanket. His lips are moving, and she can hear his voice, but it takes her a second to realize he's singing to her. She can't quite make out the words, and she almost feels like she's not supposed to. Before this moment, enraptured isn't a word she'd ever think of when it came to Will, and yet as she sees a tiny hand curled around his thumb, she knows that's exactly what he is.

"You're awake."

She startles, fighting to swallow the lump in her throat before she tries to speak.

"The nurse came in while you were sleeping with the paperwork for naming her, but she strongly suggested that we take our time. I told her I wasn't about to commit anything to paper without you alert enough to approve."

The weeks they'd spent bickering over names--male, female, and gender neutral--came back to her. "You really hated Sarah, didn't you?"

Will looks down at his daughter, her eyes shifting beneath paper-thin lids, and he wonders what she's dreaming about. "She's not a Sarah."

"She's not an Olivia, either. Not that it's a terrible name, I just don't think naming her after--"

"What about Charlotte?"

She rolls it over in her mind, and as she looks back at him, she doesn't have to ask where his inspiration for that one is coming from. Without Charlie, the chances of them being here for this moment would have drastically decreased. "It could work."

"What are you thinking about?" Will asks when she doesn't say anything else.

Mac smiles, slowly sliding up onto the pillows a little. Across the room, she can see their daughter start fidgeting in his arms. "I'm thinking that you both are entirely too far away, and that I would like another turn."


End file.
